Copy Cat
by Coqui's Song
Summary: She wasn't special enough for him. He had a prophecy; powers. She was just a copy.


**Don't kill me. I know I should be working on the next chapter of Greenleaf. Yeah, yeah. I just got inspired for this one-shot. The next chapter of Greenleaf will come when it comes. Period.**

Copy Cat

_By: Coqui's Song_

_Lost in thought. _

Cinderheart gazed around the camp, her mind cluttered with thoughts. She had rejected Lionblaze, and now she could see his golden fur glinting in the dying sunlight. She caught sight of his amber eyes, filled with sadness as they gazed back, and quickly looked away. She couldn't bear even glancing his way now.

He had changed. He had changed everything between them when he had told her about his prophecy, about his powers. She'd been terrified for his life when she'd seen him, covered with fox blood. He took such risks in her eyes, when he fought that fox on his own. He took such risks when he spilled out his secret to her. He'd attempted to save their relationship by his assurances, only to spoil it with his prophecy.

Lionblaze had taken a risk to trust her, but it warmed her to think that he had loved her enough –had _trusted _her enough –to confide in her. The warmth didn't last though, as his golden pelt flashed in her peripheral vision. The sunset itself was a reminder of how their relationship had come and gone. Feeling suddenly suffocated in the camp, like a bird trapped between a cat's claws, Cinderheart jumped to her paws.

She could feel Lionblaze's amber gaze on her as she padded swiftly out of the camp entrance. Once out in the forest, she breathed in the scents of ThunderClan territory deeply. The cooling air softly caressed her gray fur, and as she felt the gentle tug of the light breeze, Cinderheart broke into a run. She needed a place to think where she wouldn't be interrupted nor feeling trapped.

She burst out of the trees, and the pads of her feet shifted the soft sand beneath her. Cinderheart widened her eyes as the drowning sun's rays glimmered on top of the lake's water. She could almost see the silhouette of a certain golden tabby tom in front of her, but it was just a trick of the light, she knew. She refused to believe anything otherwise. She refused even to believe that StarClan was telling her something. Just a trick of the light.

She took another step and tensed as an ache suddenly hit her leg. It was acting up again. It rarely happened, but when it did, she told no one, and would escape to the lake to swim. Without further hesitation she leapt into the water and kicked out strongly, exercising her leg. The ache slowly died down, but she decided to stay in the water anyway.

She recalled the last time she swam. It was with Lionblaze. It was clear, what she meant to him, by the way his eyes glowed when he looked at her swimming as smoothly as an otter, as smoothly as a RiverClan cat. She'd decided to pretend not to notice his clumsiness. She'd known all along how much he loved her, how she loved him.

The pain of the memory clawed her heart. She got out of the water and shook her fur like a dog, fluffing it out to dry it more quickly. The sun had long since gone down, and now stars dotted the dark sky.

She glared at them, angry at her ancestors for lending such power to the tom she loved most in the world. Angry Lionblaze had fought that fox, that he'd told her his secret. Suddenly her fury caused her to speak.

"I hate you."

She spat it out with such bitter venom, but Cinderheart wasn't sure who those words were directed at: StarClan, Lionblaze, or herself. She was furious at herself for leaving him, for rejecting his effort to salvage their love. Yet in her heart she had believed that it was the right thing.

_Sometimes love just isn't enough, _said the older, wiser part of her mind. Cinderheart was too tired to block it away. At times Cinderheart wondered if she was mad. This more experienced part of her would murmur things to her, and no matter how she wished she couldn't hear it, the words never passed on deaf ears, even after Cinderheart pushed these thoughts out of her mind.

_But sometimes it has to be, _she argued with herself.

Her wise self didn't respond.

Hot, angry tears stung her eyes, and she hissed hastily, "I don't hate StarClan. And I love Lionblaze. But I hate _you_!"

Her wet fur chilled her now that there was no warmth in the sky. She shivered, but she glared instead at the sky's reflection in the lake. A perfect copy of the stars and the moon spread on the rippling water.

And she suddenly realized something she had known already, a deep, hidden secret which she had kept from him, the real reason she had rejected Lionblaze: she herself was a copy. A copy of the cat inside her. She was just like the lake. And a copy was not special. _She _was not special.

Why did Lionblaze love her? Cinderheart suddenly wondered. Why did he look so torn whenever she dared cast a glance at him? Was she attractive? Or was it her personality? What was it that he thought he lost?

Such reckless risks he'd taken. And he'd taken them all for _her_, a cat who was not in the least bit special.

And such risks she was taking. She had left him, foolishly thinking that he would focus on his prophecy. But it was apparent that all he was thinking about now was her.

And even if she was causing herself pain, she would not return to him. He was far greater than her; she didn't deserve him. He was too good for her. Too powerful for her. She was a silly little warrior who couldn't compare in greatness.

So Cinderheart left him to his prophecy and his powers and his risks. The gray she-cat turned from the lake, her fur bristling and stalked back into the shadows of the forest.

**I had originally named this "Risks" but "Copy Cat" has a nicer ring to it. XD Like it? Hate it? **

**Please review!**

_**~Coqui's Song**_


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